Wednesday, 3 February 2016

The Line I did NOT Cross

In his letter to the members of the European Council, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council says "the line I did not cross, however, were the principles on which the European project is founded".

The principle of 'Ever Closer Union' is not and will not be conceded. Moreover, the four pillars of the European Union (freedom of movement of people, capital, services and goods) remain in tact.Here is a sample of the demolition job of EUReferendum.com:

"Safeguard mechanism (migrant benefits)

Effectively, this is the biggest confidence trick of them all. The so-called "renegotiations" over the ability of the UK to suspend certain benefit payments to migrant workers are actually nothing of the sort. The UK, in a roundabout way, is simply invoking the pre-existing safeguard measures set out in Articles 112-3 of the EEA Agreement.

While there has been much loose talk about Norway's supposed lack of influence in the EEA, it in common with any EFTA state, can take such measures unilaterally but, as Article 113 of the Agreement states: "For the Community, the safeguard measures shall be taken by the EC Commission".

Thus, all the UK can do is petition the European Commission, which will now consider a proposal to amend Regulation (EC) No 492/2011 on freedom of movement for workers within the Union, which will then set in train the administrative provisions for invoking Article 112."

I urge everyone to read the blog post. It is magnificent. The European Union has not given anything substantive to Mr Cameron - can he really be serious in saying that this is the renegotiation that he will attempt to 'sell' to the electorate in the referendum?Vote to Leave the European Union